This will be the final blog from me…It has been great fun and an opportunity to express some ideas and share the day to day workings of a fictitious little Independent Insurance Agency…just like ours…

I appreciate those of you that have participated by reading and sending your comments over the past year and a half…I hope those who have been interested have gotten some insights about human nature and what happens when their all thrown together for a common cause.

Sometimes, (rarely) the language has been a bit salty…but an honest expression of real day to day communication that takes place between the wonderful people that work here..

Perhaps someone else will pick up the slack and feel this is worth working on…as for me, it’s time to take a break…

THANK YOU!…(I’m not really all that Grouchy…..well….sometimes)

Oh Oh!!!!… after returning from a client appointment in Burnsville last night, the transmission slipped in the Jag going up the hill on 101 near Hesse Farms….then the “gearbox” light came on….. Sorry Henry, but this isn’t a small problem…..so much for savings…

Earlier in the day I had a great appointment…. some guy who’s owned one of those old fashioned “Butcher Shops” for over 30 years….. Old Time Butcher Shops to me are like Hardware Stores are to Handymen….. I love them….

The owner was friendly as could be…met me at a Stand up table and I noticed he had his insurance stuff in his hand….but I always have questions first… “How long you been with your current agent”… “since I opened”… “Sounds like he takes pretty good care of you?”… “He really has…were friends….”… (I’m dead)…. so I congratulate him and ask him if he’d feel manipulated if I bought some meat…. “Not at all”… I’m not quoting this guys insurance this year….what’s the point?.. but as he walked me out the door after a bit more socializing… he shook my hand and said…”we really aren’t that good of friends”…meaning he and the agent… So, I pledged my return business….and will wait till next year….problem solved… I won’t be wasting my time on business I likely wouldn’t earn anyway….but next time, will be a different ballgame….

Back at the office was another matter… lots of issues to address….but “Motivated Gal” is doing an awesome job….even though I have her swamped at the moment…

I had my favorite appointment of the year at 3:30..but they arrived a little early… two Girl Scouts 8 and 10…. big smiles…along with Mom ….. selling their cookies…I can’t resist.. I don’t really care for the cookies…but I give them away and get some for the Mrs…..but those little smiles and all that shyness….”gimme five boxes of everything”… just to see the look on their faces….(see yesterday’s blog)…off they went….that look is priceless…. but I started thinking maybe I should quote the Butcher just to pay for the cookies….

Well, besides the Transmission issues I’m currently experiencing… I wonder what other “little problems” I’ll have the opportunity to face today?????

Sorry Heather…couldn’t find your last name again to give you just credit for this one…

I’ve refrained from such language in the past…but have grown particularly fond of the obvious word in the quotation above…for reasons I hope you will come to see..

It’s an interesting expression used to communicate a viewpoint of someone or some group of “others” (unless of course you really don’t like yourself)…..such as “he’s and asshole”… clearly intended to diminish whomever “he” happens to be at the moment… then there’s the ever popular “They are all a bunch of assholes”… a group I definitely wouldn’t want to be Associated with…like my new best-est card playing buddies…there definitely NOT a bunch of Assholes… however, individually one just might find a candidate…but as yet I have found them to be Princes among men….. hmmmm time will tell unless of course I wished to assign the term to the guy that uses the most “wild cards” in a given hand.. but I wouldn’t do that… and what would prevent one or all of them for thinking “I’m” an asshole because I don’t know how to bet on the games they make up…(that only an actuary could figure out).

The worst one of all (unless your like me and egocentric) is the combative, “let’s get it on—-YOURE an asshole !!!!!!!” It unveils the anger of the accuser and surely puts one on the defensive….. “Me?.. an Asshole????” how could that possibly be? And how dare you accuse me of such a thing?…. Pistols at dawn…..or the more timid and pacifist… “I’m sorry…I didn’t mean for you to think I’m an asshole”…yah..like that’s going to change anything.

Of course then there’s the ….”I’m an asshole”…. now rarely do I think that about myself… I’m usually in that fingerpointing group… its a far far better thing in life to realize that you..(me in this case) is perfect and that the “assholes” are all out there somewhere…. then my self image is intact…. and I can stand tall in a sea of assholes who couldn’t possibly fathom my perfection as a human being….

And finally there’s the “I’m an asshole?”note the question mark. this is the one that causes me to lose sleep at night….because in my heart of hearts..I don’t want to be an Asshole….. another excuse for internal reflection…. How did I come to be such a thing…???? What possible behaviors could I exhibit that would bestow upon me such a beneath contempt handle…..a firmness of thought?… an opinion based on certain experiences? A disagreement with anothers viewpoints?….

I have to agree that from time to time I’ve probably acted like an “asshole”… but haven’t we all?… (not the Mrs…she’s near to perfect)…. and of course my Partners..”Idea” and “Good” from time to time and in my scholarly judgement have acted like Assholes…. even my newest partner “Tall Handsome Guy” has acted the part from time to time..but that’s just a moment’s action…and word, a phrase, a look that brands its recipient with this most dubious of titles….. but then philosophically, one must ask the deeper (pardon the expression) question…. “Aren’t we ALL assholes?”..

Well, the obvious answer to all this is no…. we can’t “be” an asshole..but we can surely act like an asshole…..but usually only in the mind of others….. In my role at our little business, there are days when I walk around feeling like I have the word tattooed on my forehead..or a sign on my back that no one told me about….and on those days that I don’t…. someone will be happy to remind me…

I guess it must be true… because when it comes to babies….they melt my heart..

Felt pretty proud of myself yesterday…closed on the contractor business I’d been working on..thanks to my good friends at Indiana Insurance…kudos Ms. Teri….and I’m three for four lately….which means my closing ratio is back where it should be after a terrible fourth quarter….referral from my son, the Banker…(I love referrals) If I can write four more of the same size accounts as my Contractors…I’ll make up for the big one I just lost….and that’s the game….keep moving forward regardless of the circumstances, market, weather or how I’m feeling on any given day…next a Distributor and if I can nail that one…I’ll be well poised for the second quarter of this year..

“Like Me Gal” and I just reviewed and updated the “Agency Manual”… something that has been on the back burner for sometime…. so this’ll be a great time for an agency meeting with everyone…so we can review and get sign offs…and get everyone current.

I interviewed a potential Producer Candidate on Monday….nice enough guy…dressed like a pro….. and said the right things….. but who doesn’t?… Every interview I’ve ever had has been like that…. except not once did he ask me how much money we’d pay him… that was refreshing….I think by now I must’ve interviewed at least 300 possible sales guy candidates over my career…. My instincts are neutral on this one just now..but you never know the whole story till you dig a bit into the details….there are two thoughts I always have about a potential producer…

“Is he a Diamond in the Rough?” and “you can’t polish a turd”…

Two of my partners are naturally guarded about investing money in new producers….and that makes sense…. but this guy has a book of business we could buy that would support him…so we’ll just need to see how things develop…meanwhile, I think our partnership needs to come to some agreement on how we are going to grow the agency…another normal issue all businesses face….

Today I can catch up on paperwork and make a few new business calls….. Those of us in Sales have this thing called a Sales Pipeline…and it has to be full all the time or we suffer from dead spots…that’s when we don’t have anyone to present our solutions to….so I gotta get cracking on getting more prospects into it….

This was my second trip to Hugo having been there last Wednesday..this time it was at one of the owners homes….. I rang the doorbell several times but no answer…”Oh, it’s you..” when I called…and I sat down in the kitchen with the three partners…

After going through the proposal and answering eight or ten questions..(questions are a good sign in my business.it means I might not be getting used or that they are actually interested)….I got the old “well, were probably going with you..but we need to chat”… okay..that’s fair…however a bit confusing… so I decided to face the problem head on..

“I realize you guys are probably talking to other agents too…but to save me a third trip out here, would you be willing to give me a check for the downpayment with the understanding that if your choose an alternative agent, I’ll just tear it up?”… They didn’t bring the check book….

“We did talk to another agent, but he said he’d use the same company as you…so we just need to agree on a few things…..we’ll drop the check off tomorrow”..

Off I went, after a quick cup of coffee with my younger offspring….there were more questions…. “what is the discount for having property coverage”… I didn’t know..but found out today it’s 8%…. “Can you do Bonds?”… Yes… “Can we get a copy of a typical “Certificate”?”.. Yes….

“We’ll be by your office at just after 9:30 if that works for you….AHHHHHHHH… success… I love success….I need about five more just like this one to make up for an account I lost….. but it’s a step in the right direction…..

Gotta get in and get all the paperwork done on this one..so far I’m two for three…that’s pretty good…and I followed our rule… “It aint’ a sale till you get a check”……

“She passed away at 4:00 am…”… a call from my brother… we expected her death….but not quite as fast as it happened…

My Aunt has been a permanent fixture in my life since I can remember… at age 91 even 8 weeks ago, she was full of life and energy….”I don’t feel real good” she’d say…and “I can’t seem to get rid of this cough”….. Oh, it’s probably an allergy of some kind, I opined…..Little did we know that over 30 years after she quit smoking, lung cancer would pay her a sad and merciless visit…

Almost instantly (or so it felt) she is gone…. spending the last few days dealing with her ghosts, her foibles and whatever other issues one who is constantly in and out of sleep facing mortality and fate deals with. Her son by her side, then a grand daughter… and another son. I was able to tell her I love her earlier in the week….but clearly I was in the way…. kudos to Spence.. who tended to her every need…

My memories drift back to age 4… visiting her house, playing with her middle son…and “Trouble” the big orange cat….her house always had a clean, unique smell…probably from the soap she used..My uncle working at the Body Shop and she at home raising three boys….never heard her raise her voice to me…never heard a word in anger from her…..and I was always made to feel welcome…. just like everyone else….Rest in Peace, Aunt Naomi…

Off to the office…life is for those of us still living…my new client now worries that even though he has Publisher’s Error’s & Omissions coverage, the policy excludes Copyright Infringement and Patent Liability…..so I’ll have to address his concerns.. and make the trek to Hugo and hopefully, get my new contracting firm presented, placed and paid for…..oh…and then I have that distributor to make a presentation to…..

I’d like to stay home…..and just feel the melancholy…maybe grieve a bit for my Aunt…. but life’s circumstances demand more….off to face my daily challenges…

Who has time for anything?…. I was always under the impression that when you get older, you slow down….then I think…maybe I have but everything around me has sped up…..more to ponder….I just know time is an increasingly valuable and less available commodity…I feel like I’m running in six feet of water….in a swimming pool with wheels going downhill a hundred miles an hour…I’m not moving very fast but everything else is a blur…..

Friday again already…

Mr. and Mrs “Good Guy” are joining us for dinner at a Japanese Steak House tonight…should be fun….meanwhile, I met these contractor’s earlier in the week, thanks to the younger son …Hopefully, I’ll get that handled yet today…..and I have a client who wants to know what is excluded on a policy he just bought….Still waiting for the exclusions from the underwriter…and he is concerned about copyright infringement..so today, i’ll need to get those matters resolved.. and last but not least, I have an Asian Restaurant I need to quote….before Monday….

Yesterday afternoon, I walked by “Tall Handsome Guy’s” office… he looked tense…I’ve seen that look before…. heck, I’ve felt that look before..many times…”I don’t want to get personal…but is everything okay?”..I asked.. “Just a little pre occupied”… “Is this business related?” “Partly..I just am overwhelmed with remarkets and issues my clients keep calling me about”…. “Why don’t you let the Service Staff handle this stuff?”.. he explained that the clients keep calling him…and that it’s just faster and easier if he does it….

This my friends is what keeps the insurance business from providing that “unlimited income” that could otherwise be available to a man of “Tall Handsome’s” talents…He and “Good Guy” share a common problem.. they would rather do the work themselves than let the service staff do it…that way it will get done the way they want and within the time-frame they want… It all makes sense… but even if “they” do their own service work, they’ll lose clients for one reason or another…so it’s a self limiting philosophy…. “You’re here to provide for your family aren’t you?” I asked…”Yup”..so when you do your own work, and you still lose clients your limiting your time to sell and add new clients….and you stop the income growth….and you also deny the support staff the opportunity to do the work we pay them for…and to learn and grow themselves….. I think he got my point….I hope he got my point.

It’s all about trust really..and time… in our business you have to have a service staff to hand the business off to… then you have to be willing to hand it off and trust that they will do everything in their power to keep your clients happy and then you have to convince your client to extend the same trust to your service people as they have extended to you…..this is one area that “Idea Guy” and I share a common view….Let others do the work their here to do so we can spend more time on other things….. I hope “Tall Handsome” sees the practicality and starts turning more over to our trusty Personal Lines folks…so he can spend more time doing what he does the best…selling…..

Meanwhile, I gotta go sell something….

I actually had fun yesterday….but in so doing, I realized one of my weaknesses…. I’m a person (in business) who just wants to get to the point and move on…. I think from time to time, this sets my clients back just a bit….

I had to be at Dunn Brothers in Hugo at 9:00 a.m… I’m supposed to meet three contractor’s who are starting drywall business….thanks to a referral from my Banker Son…Bryan….I hate being late for anything…so anticipating a 49 mile drive directly through the Twin Cities at rush hour, I left at about 6:45….. got there at 7:45…I had lots of extra time, so I gassed up and got the Jag washed….my prospects were there at 9:00 and after sitting down…I asked about 10 questions…and said..”I’m done”.. I’ll have something for you in the next day or two…

“Oh…and by the way do you have a Buy/Sell agreement?”.. “Yes” came the reply almost in unison…. “How is it funded?”..I queried… blank looks all around… “Well, we have an agreement that says our wives have no claim to the business if something happens to us”.. “Does your lawyer feel it can’t be challenged?”…. blank looks again….. “You know Grouchy…we need a few grey hairs like you around to tell us this stuff”.. thanks for that..so I’ll probably write a few life policies out of this….I sure should anyway.

Off to one of my more loyal clients in Osseo…. “Serious Guy” handles the service on this account.. and he had about 20 questions for me to clarify….I got about three of them done….and when I mentioned that my clients insurance was up 10%, he gave me that..”I like you .. but I’m not sure I like you that much” look…. I was out the door in 15 minutes…. (He likes me that much)…

At 3:00 pm I had an appointment with an insurance agents dream….. I already wrote one account for him and his new business is being bound and covered today..but he is forever worrying about having a loss that isn’t covered..for example, last week he asked me about “weather” insurance….I didn’t think much of it unless I just wanted to wade around in his bank account…so I advised him..”You can find an insurance policy for just about any eventuality…and carriers and agents will take your money all day long… but the fact is you really can’t insure against everything even if there is a policy for it because you have to read the exclusions”…. “I need weather insurance” came the reply…. okay…I’ll go get it… I collected the down payment on his new policy and will no go find some weather insurance for him….this guy is good businessman, very smart but one of those rare people that really could say he’s insurance poor if I don’t watch out for him…

I ended the day at another clients office… I saved him over $2,000 this year….”Great Job Grouchy”, he kept saying….he was pretty happy, and after going through the policy another ten times we found even more things that would cut his insurance costs…then I mentioned that “rates were going up”…. and I needed him to consider his expectations for the next renewal….he didn’t say “great job Grouchy” this time…. he looked at me like he might just have to test the market next year…

So on my way home, I was thinking….. I’m great when I lose income..(we get paid a percentage of the premium)….but things get more neutral when rates start going up… there is a life experience lesson here..but I need to think about it more before I really know what it is…..

As Valentine’s Day’s go, yesterday was a plus I suppose….dinner was much better than the previous evenings Mustard Frenzy…I switched from Red to White to accommodate the too small Lobster Tails and Shrimp..I think it was the smoked Paprika that really made the difference…but great it was….

I have to be in Hugo at 9:00…some coffee shop to meet three guys that are starting a drywall business….I’ve been asking my son the Banker for referrals and he finally came through for me…..then off to one of my larger renewals in Osseo….”Serious Guy” handles the renewal work for this one..and has at least a dozen questions…His real strength is his attention to detail….so details I’ll get for the file and for him.

I made my appointments for as many of my clients and prospects as I could yesterday…including an interview with a Producer Candidate…then travel plans for a month end trip to a Seminar at one of our newer carriers in Appleton, Wisconsin.. I decided to fly….that 7 hour drive each way just gets a little long…

We gave the ladies in the office chocolates yesterday purchased from one of my most hmmmmmmm what’s the word…..shall I say “interesting” clients.. she owns a shop that sells flower’s, candy and ice cream…..I visit her store once or twice a year…and as I approached the sign on the door said…”NEW… Classes to help you get in touch with your Angels”….oh oh…it’s gettin spooky…. so after I paid for the roses, she mentioned that the Angels told her the roses would last four weeks…. naturally, I asked her to the giggles of a patron, who do I see you or the angels for my money back if they die sooner?..she didn’t smile..

Well, another busy day…and I have to be out of here by 6:30….I’ll probably get to Hugo by 8:00..that’ll give me an hour to kill…but I hate being late for appointments…then to my 11:00 am…then to see my very ill Aunt..then back to the office to congratulate “Sensitive Guy”… he’s going to be a daddy and just found out it’ll be a son…..

I was white knuckling it all the way home….. the Jag is definitely not an Icy Weather car….rear wheel drive and slipping a sliding my way….and those hills are a real challenge….I finally made it…all the while..chatting with one of my buddies…Don from one of those “Farm” Insurance Companies……there really oughta be a law against talking on a cell phone and driving..at least in this weather…but I remembered my speaker function and that relieved some of the tension…and as we ended our conversation..I pulled into the garage…and called it a day.

I love to cook… I’d like to say I’m good at it..but that wouldn’t necessarily be true..except for my now dead and buried Smoker…that has produced some excellent ribs and such…This night, it was Pork Tenderloin in Mustard Sauce… way too mustardy for the Mrs and me…..I guess I’ll never be an executive chef…

“Okay”…. “Okay”…was all “New Guy” had to say to me yesterday afternoon…. it was almost like someone had coached him on the ten rules for dealing with “Grouchy”… I can hear them now..”Just agree with whatever he says and don’t argue”… or perhaps I’m just paranoid…but it all seemed well rehearsed…

The discussion was over his expiration list file… that’s a list of prospects filed by the date their insurance policies expire….”New Guy” has in my estimate been a GREAT find… just like “Tall Handsome Guy”…”New” is filled with energy and ambition….a great sense of humor and a ready smile…and he works…. these guys come along once in a blue moon….and they are our future…so, I figure..just give him a “little” direction and get out of his way……especially, since he won’t argue with me anyway…

Gotta deliver a renewal and make a new business presentation today…and do the stack of paperwork that comes with these two tasks…. and tonight..the Mrs and I will enjoy another home cooked meal and a glass of wine..(it is Valentine’s Day…)…but this time, it’ll be without Mustard Sauce…and something a lot easier to cook…

Winter finally made a snowy appearance… and an unwelcome one from my point of view…but I’ll take the shortened season any day…but in the Jeep today…